Gundam Seed Abyss
by Angrod Anwamane
Summary: It's Cosmic Era 78, and Plants and Earth began to explore the outer regions of space. What they found, was bigger than they ever thought possible. A new war, with a new enemy. The story has been completed, but more will be added later on.
1. Intro

**Intro **

Cosmic Era 78: The Plants and Earth have sustained many years of peace and prosperity. As technology advanced, both sides began to explore the outer regions of space, expecting to find new life forms. At first, they found none. After a few years of exploring, they found a life form much further advanced than they were and had no choice but to flee. Yet, the alien life form followed them back to the Plants and Earth and they set up a base on Mars, destroying the few outposts recently created there. Since then, the Plants and Earth have been fighting a losing battle with the aliens, later named the Hulgar.

Thus, the new space age began in a time of war. The Coordinators, the genetically enhanced human race who built the Plants and now mostly live in space, and the Naturals, the original human race that prefer to remain on Earth, must gather their strength in the uneasy peace and fight the common enemy.

This is Gundam Seed Abyss.

* * *

As you read this story, if you have any questions or comment, please feel free to ask or comment on the chapter. If you wish for more to the story, I'll need to see some comments before I add more. 


	2. Phase 1: Awakening Might

**_Phase 1 – Awakening Might_**

Andarian walked around his home in the Plants. He was waiting for his father, the current Chairman of the new CETA Alliance, to return. Andarian's father called him out of work early so he could give him a big surprise. What it was escaped him, but when his father said big, he meant big.

Andarian was a handsome young male with long dark blue hair and equally dark blue eyes. He was six foot, 18 years old and very skinny. Trained as a Mobile Suit pilot in the CETA Military, he piloted the basic CMSM.-X20 Twilight. It was not his choice but it was something.

He sat on the couch and looked outside the window at the simulated outdoors. It was very hot and dry and a grey overcast hung in the sky. Unfortunately the rain systems were not working, adding to the gloominess of the day.

Andarian turned to the TV and searched through some channels. He stopped on the news to see what was going on in the battle against the Hulgar. Things were not going well. The Earth forces recently sent a small force to destroy a close outpost near Earth's moon. Unfortunately, the battle went badly for the Earth forces but they were able to destroy their target. Based on the information Andarian gathered, the Hulgar knew they were coming and prepared a solid defence. The station was destroyed early, but the defence continued to fight off the small force. Only one Earth Alliance warship survived being destroyed, and that was captured by the Hulgar. No one knew what happened to those who were captured, but the thought both angered and brought fear to Andarian, for he too was going out to battle soon. The thought made him slightly nervous.

The next story to come up was about the CETA Alliance's Fourth Fleet. Although there was not a significant amount of information, such as where it was, but Andarian knew that the target was a Hulgar supply outpost on Mars. It was one hour until the attack began and final preparations were being made. One of Andarian's old classmates, Drane Struth, was sent to that battle. In school, he studied navigation, and now he was on board a warship at one of the navigation systems. Andarian was never really close to Drane, but he was proud that he had done so well.

Andarian turned off the TV just as the videophone started ringing. He walked over and answered. It was his father. Andarian saluted and his father did the same. "Chairman Tamaru. I was expecting your arrival some time ago." Andarian said, hoping not to sound rude.

The Chairman just smiled. "I know," he replied kindly. "I request your presence in Hangar Two. Your surprise awaits you there." With that, the Chairman saluted again and the screen went blank. Andarian went into his room and changed into his uniform from his work clothes.

Andarian drove out in a fancy blue sports car towards the Military Outpost near the edge of the city to the North. It took him twenty-three minutes to get there. Upon arrival, the captain of the Legitimate, a new warship that was nearing completion, greeted him.

"Andarian Tamaru?" the Captain asked as he stepped through the automatic doors. She was a beautiful older woman dressed in her light blue uniform with long blonde hair and green eyes. She was also dressed in her uniform. "I am Kiariel Hamatari, Captain of the Legitimate." She saluted, Andarian doing the same. "I have been sent to escort you to the hangar."

Andarian began to figure out what the surprise was, but said nothing about it. Instead, he bowed and said, "Thank you Captain Hamatari." He raised and followed her through the building. The Captain used her card key to get outside into the fenced-in area. It was a short walk to the second hangar nearby where the Chairman and three other top Mobile Suit pilots were waiting for him. This confirmed what Andarian thought it might be.

"Ah! There is CETA's finest young pilot," the Chairman exclaimed. He saluted, then gave his son a big hug. The chairman was a tall and proud man who closely resembled his son, though he stood slightly taller and his hair was more of a silvery blue. Andarian returned the gestures. "Now as you all know," he said, turning to the others as Andarian joined the group, "you have all progressed faster than most of the other pilots and you will be boarding the Legitimate when it joins the main fleet. We have finished our new Gundams, and they are looking for their pilots."

At that moment, the hangar doors opened revealing four new prototype Gundams. They were all grey and stood tall in the hangar. They looked similar to each other for the most part, all four like large, advanced mechanized humans with powerful weaponry. They all had different backpack equipment and many different weapons.

Captain Hamatari turned to the Chairman and saluted. "If you will excuse me, Chairman, I must return to the Legitimate and finish my paperwork." The Chairman nodded his head and Hamatari left hurriedly. A man drove up beside her in a small roofless truck with many boxes in the back. He saluted to the Hamatari and she saluted back, then got in. Once they both were settled, the man pressed on the gas and they made their away to the Legitimate.

With Hamatari gone, the Chairman turned to the only girl of the group. She had shoulder length brown hair and brown eyes. She came from Africa, but was a coordinator. "Yumi, your Gundam is the first on the left." This Gundam was slim and had only one large gun on its back. He then motioned to the next. "Andarian, that's yours." This one had a large shield and was the one to have the grappling. It had a backpack of the DRAGOON System, which Andarian liked. "Alex, this one is for you." He pointed to a large Gundam with many guns on its back and large shields. This one seemed to be more heavily armoured and made Yumi's Gundam seem small. Alex, the shortest of the males, with short brown hair and red eyes stared at the size of his Gundam. Chairman Tamaru just laughed and pointed at the last Gundam. "This last one isn't quite ready yet, Amaru, but it will be soon." This one was still missing some parts and had no visible weapons on it.

The Chairman began walking into the hangar and directed them to a small room in the back. When all four of the pilots were inside, they sat at the conference table in the middle of the room. "Here you will understand the capabilities of your Gundams," explained Tamaru. He sat at the head and pressed a few buttons, bringing down a screen. The first up was Yumi's Gundam.

"This," began Chairman Tamaru, "is the CPSG.-230, also known as the Warp Gundam. This Gundam has only two weapons, and you'll see why in a moment." The screen changed to show a large gun with a long barrel. "This is the primary weapon of the Warp. It is a Density Beam Sniper. The density of the beam charge varies, and can do damage accordingly. A light charge would merely skin the front amour, while a longer charge can pierce the armour completely and continue on for some time." The screen changed to show a Beam Sabre. "The only other weapon is a low-power Beam Sabre." The screen changed to show the whole Gundam again. "The reason for the few weapons is because the Warp can travel at speeds estimated to be over Mach 5 here in the atmosphere. Extra weaponry would slow it down. Not to mention it has Mirage Colloid."

Yumi was surprised at what her Gundam was capable of for the size it was. Now it made more sense. She got the temporary password to the Gundam's OS and received a more detailed package on the Warp. Then it was Andarian's turn.

"The next Gundam is the CPSG.-240 Eclipse." The screen changed to show the Eclipse. "The Eclipse is our more medium-armoured Gundam. Its main focus is the newly developed EMP Disrupter Beam Rifle." The screen changed to show the shield. "The Rifle is hidden under the shield. The beam can change to two settings. The first is a normal beam that causes damage. The second releases a type of ultrasonic frequency that disrupts the computer systems of any Mobile Suit, Mobile Armour, and Warships." The screen then changed to show the backpack of the Gundam. "The Eclipse has also been equipped with the Disconnected Rapid Armament Group Overlook Operation Network System, or the DRAGOON System as you may know it. Although there are only eight gun detachments, it's still a great weapon to have." The screen changed again to show the grappling. "This is a basic Gleipnir Anchor and Grappling. The only difference is that this can drain the energy of other Mobile Suits as long as it hits the right area." The screen changed to show some round explosives. "These are the EMP Grenades. They are not yet finished so your Gundam has not yet been equipped with them."

Andarian was also impressed with his Gundam. Yumi envied Andarian over the type of Gundam that he got, but still preferred hers. Like Yumi, Andarian got a package on the Eclipse and the password to the OS. Alex looked up, ready to see his Gundam's data.

"Now we come to the CPSG.-250 Lunar." The screen showed the next Gundam. This was the largest of the four and had to most weapons. "We start with the OctaCannon. This new weapon system has eight beam cannons that can lock onto different targets at one time or fire all at once." The screen changed to the guns on the Gundam's back and demonstrated the possibilities before changing to the large shields. "These are special shields that use energy to reflect beams. However, they cannot deflect missiles and melee weapons like swords." Then the screen changed to a short movie that showed the Gundam's Mobile Armour transformation to a tank. Chairman Tamaru ran this clip through to explain it. "Basically the body folds in half forwards, the OctaCannon joins together to form a beam Machine Gun and the shields cover the body, making it a tank-like Mobile Armour."

Alex loved the power of his Gundam and acted as if he was the Gundam, blasting everything and letting out a loud laugh. Everyone loved this change from the seriousness. It was a temporary escape from the war. Alex always was that escape. He took the papers and the code and said, "In my hands I have the power to destroy our enemies and still have enough power to make popcorn!" Again everyone laughed. Even the Chairman found these informal outbursts amusing.

Once the outbursts calmed down, Chairman Tamaru addressed Amaru. "Sadly, the CPSG.-260, or the Nightmare isn't quite ready yet. We have a few changes to make to its structure. However, I can tell you now that it has no weapons. It combines with the other Gundams to give them further boosts to their power and special attacks." Amaru nodded. He knew the importance of this, but was slightly disappointed at the fact that he did not have any weapons of his own. Although it was not complete, Amaru did received some data sheets on the Nightmare. The team working on the it could not obtain accurate data, but did have some speculations on what it should be able to do, and that was what was included in the package.

The chairman put up a new image on the screen. "Now, what makes your Gundams different than all the others is that they have two power cells each." The group of pilots stopped their chat amongst themselves and stared at the Chairman and the screen. "The first cell is the normal Ultra Compact Power Cell. The second," he changed the screen, "is a Nuclear Core." Again, the team was surprised. "Changing from the Cell to the Core changes many aspects of the Gundam. It will change the power output for your weapons, and the Variable Phase Shift (VPS) Armour will change colour too. In addition, when you change to the Core, the Gundam's name and code will change. So the Eclipse will become the Prominence, the Lunar will become the Solar, the Warp will become the Fusion, and the Nightmare will become the Dreamstate."

Alex flipped through the sheets, trying to find the info on this. "You will not find this info in those papers," he said sternly. His face began to show his age as a light flickered in his eyes. "These capabilities of these new models must never go to anyone else. Neither the enemies nor our allies."

Andarian and the others nodded. They heard a large motor start up. Over the noise, the Chairman explained that the Legitimate was loading up the Gundams, with the exception of the Nightmare. "Amaru," he shouted so he could be heard, "you will board the Legitimate once the Nightmare is ready."

The Chairman dismissed Amaru, but Andarian, Yumi and Alex were to report to the Legitimate. They headed towards the new Warship and used their cards to gain entrance. Andarian glanced back, thinking that this may be the last time he stood on his home ground. He returned to the Legitimate and went inside, door closing behind him. Within the ship, the noises of the motors continued as the three Gundams were loaded into the ship's hangar, and spare parts loaded into another section of the ship.

A CETA crewman looked at his watch, then returned to the screen he was watching. Only half an hour until the Legitimate launched and he could return home from his patrol. "Stay vigilant men," said the male captain, noticing some of his crew slacking off slightly. "The Hulgar could attack at any moment, and we must be ready for when that happens."

The crew looked at him for a moment before returning to their posts. The ship was the mass produced Apollo Class. It had an average speed and power, but great defence. Two Apollo ships, the Viper and the Phaiz, had been patrolling the area for some time, nearly 3 hours. News had reached them of the battle near Mars that had gone poorly for CETA, and the only few remaining ships had been captured. To make the situation even worse, the target of the mission was not destroyed.

Down in the lower decks of the Viper, a young girl awoke in her bed. She had short red hair and slightly tanned skin. Her brown eyes glanced around the dark room before she stood to turn on the lights. She squinted as the light flickered on. Her cabin was like all the others, a two person bunk with the opening closable with a sliding wall, a desk and chair, and a videophone that could call anywhere in the ship. She let the blanket she held around her fall away onto the floor, exposing her nude body. She stood and stretched, then bent over to get her bag of clothing out from under the bed.

She looked at the time and quickly got dressed. She threw on a white bra, pulling up the loose straps, and some pink panties. She took out a short black skirt and pulled that up, followed by the light blue female CETA uniform, which bore the symbol on her left shoulder and her rank code on the right.

She zipped up the front and folded the collar, pulling up the straps again, before departing her room and up to the bridge. She used her key card to activate the lift and entered it. As the lift started, she wobbled slightly, but as it rose, the gravity lessened, forcing her to hold onto the sides of the lift. The doors soon opened and she pushed out of the lift into the large room, the bridge. The Captain and a few crewmembers turned to see her. "Hello, Miss Renomar," he said as she floated next to him. She saluted and the captain nodded an acknowledgement.

"Anything yet?" Jena asked, looking out into the star filled blackness. She obtained a lost look on her face as she stared out into the white dots against the black background.

"No," said the captain. "There has been no action." He reached to his side to get a see-through water bottle and took a sip of the cool water. Then a faint beeping noise came up from the radar. The crewman at that station pressed a few buttons.

"Unknown heat source detected," he stated. "Position; red 19 alpha, distance 3000."

"It's still some ways away," the captain said to himself. "Check thermal patterns. If no match is found, open a link on all channels." He stood and went over to the station.

"Checking thermal patterns..." The crewman began to press some buttons. Other crewmen began notifying the Plants and the Phaiz, and preparing for battle. "No match found."

One of the other crewmen on the other side of the bridge then opened a link. "This is the CETA Alliance warship Viper. Identify yourselves." The crew remained silent, waiting for the answer that did not come. "No answer sir."

Jena looked at the radar. The ship was closing fast. "I'll go prepare the Centaur for battle," she told the captain. Again, he simply nodded. Jena began to leave when the crewman at the radar station spoke again.

"I've lost track of the enemy ship," he exclaimed.

"Go to Condition Yellow. All battle crew are to go on standby." The captain sat in his chair as he gave the order. Jena looked back before re-entering the lift.

"Yes sir," replied the crewman. "Condition Yellow is announced. All war crew are to be on standby at their posts. Condition Yellow is announced." Everywhere, yellow lights began flashing and sirens began wailing. Crewmembers dashed out of rooms half dressed as they ran to their posts.

Jena got out of the lift, several more entering, and she headed down the gravitated hall at a quick pace. She went to another lift and took it down the hangar area. She entered the change room and threw on her pilot suit. It was like her uniform, but it was black and silver. She carried the helmet under her arm as she made her way to a silver and black Mobile Armour. The hatch opened and she climbed into the cockpit, the hatch closing shut. However, before she could start it up, the ship shook slightly. She called the bridge. "What's going on?" she asked quickly.

"The Phaiz has been hit," the answering crewman said. "The enemy is on us. It had Mirage Colloid or something like it."

Jena cursed as a different voice came up. "Jena, you are third to launch." She turned to see that they had announced Condition Red, and that they were indeed in a battle. She watched as two Shadowedge Mobile Suits took off. Then it was her turn. The lift she was on took her to the launch gate, which sealed behind her. She shut the visor of her helmet and turned the Mobile Armour on. "CETA Alliance Jena Renomar. Mobile Armour Centaur. I'm heading out." She pushed the throttle forward as the lift released the MA and took off with great speed into space. She glanced over at the Phaiz and, based on her observations, they could not send anyone out because the launch gate had been damaged.

On the bridge, the Captain was trying to assess the situation. "Increase speed to eighty percent," he commanded. "Load missile tubes one, two and four with Anti-beam Depth charges. Ready the Igelstellungs! Fire!" The Viper's guns fired on the enemy ship. They began sending out their own Mobile Armour-looking ships to counter. "What's the strength of the enemy?"

"Unknown," a crewman replied. "One warship and a least five MA's."

Jena whipped around one enemy and unleashed her plasma rays on it. The rays detached from the hull and flew around the ship. However, most of the shots missed and the ones that hit barely scratched the surface. The battle was going ill. Jena turned in time to see the Phaiz burst into flames as the damage brought it down.

"Damn it," cursed Jena. "This isn't going well at all." She zipped around back to the Viper she and defended it.

"Fire all missile tubes!" commanded the Captain. "Where's our mobile weapons?" He looked around the screens.

"She's behind us sir. The Hulgar are trying to surround us," replied a crewman. The ship's alarm began to sound, signalling that the ship would not hold for much longer. The ordered a distress signal be sent to the Plants. "More MA's are being launched. They keep coming, and the Centaur and the Shadowedges' are low on power."

"Recall our Mobile Suits and Armours and set up a barrage. Watch their movement patterns and tactics." The Captain got up from his chair, floating above the floor slightly, and began going from station to station, using the walls and railings to guild him. "Quickly re-supply our forces and send them out again."

The Mobile Suits had come aboard and the Centaur was preparing when the enemy ship fired a powerful nuclear beam that struck the Viper. Jena stared in shock for a moment before getting away from the explosion and heading back to the Plants.

She looked at her screen that showed low power. Behind her the Hulgar were in pursuit. Either the Hulgar would catch her or her power would run out before she got back to the Plants, and then they would catch her.

* * *

_Andarian and his friends find themselves in a furious battle outside their homeland. The powers of their Gundams unfold before both the CETA Alliance and the Hulgar. Power never seen before gets used for the first time. Next time on Gundam Seed Abyss, Battle under the Stars. Eclipse! Use your skill to vanquish your enemies!_


	3. Phase 2: Battle Under the Stars

**_Phase 2 – Battle Under the Stars_**

Andarian, Yumi, and Alex began heading towards the bridge of the Legitimate. They looked around the ship a bit as they passed through the halls. They passed the cafeteria, the lift to the hangar, and many rooms for the crew. Along the way, they saw many people rushing about, making last minute preparations and supplying. One of the crewmen saw the pilots and greeted them with a salute, to which the pilots saluted back.

The crewman seemed very familiar. He was as tall as Andarian with jet black hair and stern, watchful eyes. It dawned on Andarian that he was the one who picked up Captain Hamatari earlier. The man lowered his hand and spoke in a deep voice. "I am Commander Noral Kinoru. I have been sent here to give you your card keys to the ship." He gave them the cards which was completely white except for the CETA Logo on one side and the swipe strip on the other. "These cards," he continued, "will get you to the bridge, the hangar, the bathroom facilities, and your own cabins. Other places such as the engineering room are restricted."

He began walking down the hall, the pilots following, and pointed out things like the cafeteria and washrooms. "The cabins for the lower ranked personnel are located down the hall to my right." He pointed down a long hall that led to the middle of the ship. "This," he said, stopping at what appeared to be an elevator door, "leads up to the bridge. When you get up there, you will need to ask me or the Captain to stay. If not, you will be asked to leave."

The pilots approached the lift to the bridge and Kinoru used his card to open the lift doors. They went up to the bridge, but did not get the expected greeting. Instead, they were met with chaos and mayhem. Captain Hamatari was going from station to station. She saw the pilots but continued with what she was doing.

There were seven stations, two navigation up front, four in the back for combat, and the last, which was Jessie's station, for communication was off to the left. Then there was the Captain's chair, located in the centre, and the Commander's chair, near the back with the combat computers. At the very back, close to the lift, were four other seats for guests.

At the navigation stations were two males. One had blue eyes and brown hair, named Josh Thompson, and the other had blonde hair and green eyes, named Ray Inoran. He also had a large scar that ran down the side of his neck and under his shirt. They both were mid twenties and looked to have a few years in the military.

There were three males and a female at the combat stations. Two of the males were twins, Thrice and Kanora, and had black hair and brown eyes. Thrice had shorter hair and Kanora had glasses. The other guy had green hair, slightly spiked, and had teal eyes. He was referred to as Crash, which he had received after a big battle near Earth a few years ago. The one girl had long blue hair, like Andarian, that was tied in a ponytail, and had grey eyes. Her name was Katrina.

Kinoru stepped out of the lift and went over to his station further into the busy room. The pilots just stood there wondering what to do. Despite the commotion, Captain Hamatari approached them. "You must be our new pilots," she said, saluting.

"Yes we are," replied Andarian, also saluting. "I am Andarian Tamaru. This is Yumi Shira and here we have Alex Ratsu." Alex and Yumi saluted as their names were called.

"I am pleased to meet you," she said nicely, "but under these circumstances I have no time for such pleasantries." Her voice turned to a more commanding one, with power and authority.

"May we ask what's happened?" Yumi asked over the noise. For a moment a group had moved aside and she thought she saw someone she knew at the communications station. She shrugged it off as Hamatari answered her question.

"The Hulgar have attacked and the Legitimate is preparing to launch ahead of time," Kiariel replied. "Please head down to Briefing Room Two and I shall send Commander Kinoru momentarily." With that, Hamatari resumed her duties.

Alex wanted to go and find out more details but Yumi held him back. "We need to go," she said simply. "Otherwise we could get in serious trouble." Alex had to agree. Andarian opened the lift and signalled to Alex and Yumi to head down. Yumi led the way to the Briefing Room, which was not that far from the lift.

They did not have to wait long before Commander Kinoru joined them. "As I am sure you are now aware," he began when the others were seated, "the Hulgar have attacked us. Although they came in a small number, they were too much. Right now, there are three Shadowedge MS's, a Centaur MA, and the Apollo warship." They shifted slightly as the ship began descending into space. One of the crewmen came on the PA system. "The CPCW.-A15 Legitimate is now launching. Prepare for battle upon launch. Condition Red is announced." The pilots looked at each other, now understanding what their mission could be.

Warships built in the Plants descend on a special air lock lift and release them into space. The engines then start up after the warship is launched from the gate. Warships that have been in service have a special gate and hangar they go to. Since this was the first time the Legitimate has been launched, it exits through the special gate.

"All emergency crews prepare for damage to the lift. Stand by at your stations," The voice continued. Yumi began to wonder who it was, for she seemed familiar.

Kinoru continued the meeting for a few minutes talking about battle formations and the capabilities of the ship. After he finished with the instructions, and each were given a slip of paper with their locker number and combination, the pilots went to the lift that sent them down to the hangar. The hanger and change rooms, along with the Bridge and a few other points in the ship, were sustained in a small fraction of Earth's gravity, low enough to seem like weightlessness, but enough to stay in control. The Gravitational Simulators were either not needed or a bad idea to have in these areas.

As the pilots arrived at the lift, Jessie came over the PA System again. "The Legitimate has successfully launched and is now in space. All hands within the core of the ship, prepare for the Gravitational Simulators to come online." Andarian used the wall to help lower himself to the floor, Yumi and Alex doing the same. They felt the gravity return and promptly called the lift using the key cards, and descended.

When it got to the hangar Andarian and Alex went towards the male change room to their left, using a motorized conveyer belt on the wall to guide them, and Yumi went to her right, also using the belt. Inside the lockers they were assigned, they found black and silver suits which they were to wear overtop their current uniform. The ship began to rumble, meaning the engines had started up.

As they exited, they met up in the centre in front of the lift and looked over the railing towards the lower level where they saw the three Gundams. They jumped over the railing and, using it, floated through the air towards each of their Gundams.

Andarian found his and grabbed on to it. He made his way to the opening where he sank down into the cockpit. He began booting up the Gundam and, when prompted, entered the password he received earlier in the meeting. The other pilots did the same in their Gundams.

The screen in the centre of the cockpit flashed then showed the words _General Unilateral Neuro-link Depressive Autonomic Manoeuvre_.Andarian noticed that the first letter in each word spelled the word _Gundam_. The last things to appear on the screen before the navigation system were the words Century Talisman, which makes CETA, and the CETA crest. Andarian placed the helmet on his head and closed the visor. He flipped some switches to start up the Gundam as the catapult was prepared and the Gundam placed on it. A female voice came over the radio.

"Andarian, you are first to launch. Yumi, you are second, and Alex, you are third." It was then that Yumi recognized who the voice belonged to. It was her cousin Jessie. The pilots acknowledged as Jessie continued. "Catapult levels normal. Nuclear Core activation denied for all pilots. Strength of the enemy is 20 MA's and 2 warships. Take care of the MA's."

"Another warship?" asked Alex.

"Yes," Jessie replied. "Another one showed up a short time ago.

"Roger that," Andarian replied.

"This is going to be awesome!" exclaimed Alex.

"Don't get yourself worked up now," snapped Yumi. "This isn't the usual training simulation."

"I know that," Alex snapped back.

Andarian just sighed. Those two were always fighting. He just learned to deal with it. "It's time. CETA Pilot Andarian Tamaru, Eclipse… Let's Ride!" With that, the Eclipse lurched forward and flew into space. Andarian flipped a switch and activated the VPS armour. The Gundam turned from the grey of the metal to a black and dark blue.

Yumi followed. "Yumi Shira. Warp… I'm heading out." She launched and activated the Mirage Colloid, vanishing completely.

Alex brought up the rear. "Alex Ratsu. Lunar… Here we go!" Alex flew out and activated the VPS armour, which also made the Gundam black and dark blue. He also transformed into his MA mode. The OctaCannon folded and the shields covered the body. He flew off with the others.

On the bridge of the Legitimate, Captain Hamatari scanned the situation. She sat in her chair. "Where is the Apollo? And where is the enemy?"

"The Apollo Class warship is the Viper. It's at Blue 22 Charlie, and the enemy is close by," Ray replied. "Wait! I've lost the signal from the Viper!" The entire crew turned to him in disbelief. "Now the enemy is closing on us. Red 73 Alpha, distance 700."

"There's a CETA MA heading towards us," stated Jessie. "It appears to be damaged."

"Slow our speed and bring it in," commanded Hamatari. Jessie opened the hatch from her station and alerted emergency crews as the MA entered. The black and silver MA lined itself up with the hatch doors and flew in at quickly. A wire net, which had been lowered from the ceiling of the launch gate, caught the MA as in flew in. Once the hatch was closed, the emergency crew ran towards the MA and opened the cockpit to find Jena unconscious. After briefly assessing her, they loaded her onto a stretcher and sent her to the Infirmary.

Andarian and the other pilots soon saw their enemy. Yumi was the first to strike, taking out two enemies with her beam sabre, hidden by the Mirage Colloid, at a speed of Mach 50. "Wow!" she exclaimed. "A basic attack at high speeds can be powerful."

As the enemy cam closer, Andarian let out destructive beams from his rifle and Alex used the OctaCannon in a rapid-fire way, taking out three of the enemy MA units. Andarian looked behind him to see the Legitimate launch a volley of missiles towards the two enemy warships.

Yumi deactivated the Mirage Colloid and activated the VPS armour. Like the others, her Gundam became black and dark blue. She replaced the sword on her back beside the sniper rifle, which she removed and began charging. "Alex, cover me."

Alex transformed out of MA mode and went to guard the Warp. Andarian went further into the group of Hulgar MA's and unleashed the DRAGOONS. Flying everywhere, the DRAGOON parts shot out a light show of lasers. Although they did not do a lot of damage, it still protected him from the enemy fire. Andarian got a warning light as the enemy warships fired missiles at the Legitimate. He redirected the DRAGOONS to block the shot, giving the Legitimate the chance to fire back, which they took.

Alex used his shields to block the beams from the enemy. "Are you almost done?" Alex asked impatiently using the OctaCannon to ward off the enemies.

"Yup! Get out of the way!" she exclaimed. Alex moved aside and Andarian retracted the DRAGOONS and flew away. Once they were out of the line of fire, she released the charged beam and watched as it pierced two MA's and hit a third, destroying all three. "Yes I got them!"

"Fire missile tubes one through four with Sledgehammers," the Commander ordered. "Increase speed by fifteen percent and fire Valiant one." He turned to Jessie on his left. "Where are our mobile weapons?"

"They are all in good shape," she replied. "The Warp and Eclipse have sixty percent of power left and the Lunar has fifty-eight. They are all fighting the enemy's MA force."

"Keep an eye on them," she said, keeping focus on the battle. "Load all missile tubes with anti-beam depth charges. Turn pitch angle twenty degrees. What's the state of the MA we took in."

The crewman on Kinoru's right answered. "The MA has sustained major damage and the pilot has been sent to the Infirmary with medium injuries."

"Save the specifics for later," Hamatari said, trying to keep focused on the battle. "I want that MA up and running as soon as possible. Also, the doctors have my permission to treat the pilot with whatever it needed." The crewman relayed the message to the two locations quickly before returning to the battle.

Andarian resumed using the DRAGOONS. He used his grappling to grab one of the MA's and threw it into one of the enemy warships. Andarian looked up and pulled the Eclipse away from a shot from one of the warships. "Damn that was close," he sighed.

The captain addressed him from the Legitimate. "Andarian. Are you ok?"

"Yeah I'm fine," he responded. The Lunar flew past him in its MA mode and the Warp had gone invisible again. "How many enemy forces remain?" he asked.

"There are four MA's left and the two warships." Jessie answered for the captain. "The Warp has gone to take out the weapons of one of the warships and the Lunar is out getting those last few MA's. Go to the other warship and disable it."

Andarian simply nodded as he changed his course, drawing in his grappling and DRAGOONS. He looked to his right to see random beams shooting out of nowhere. That he guessed was Yumi and the Warp. He then turned to his right to see Alex taking care of the MA's. Andarian changed the setting of his rifle to disruptive mode and flew around the ship, shooting at random areas, dodging the return fire from the ship. He found that many of the weapons stopped firing. His plan was working.

"Fire anti-beam depth charges and prepare to fire Valiants," ordered the Commander. Kiariel watched as they slowly took control of the situation. The missiles fired at the warship were blocked. The Valiants charged and fired on the warship the Warp was attacking, doing a large amount of damage to its hull. The same warship fired and destroyed one of the two Valiants. The captain cursed as the impact shook the entire ship.

In the Infirmary, the doctors treated Jena's many injuries received during her battle, including a large and deep cut on her brow with minor blood loss, some minor burns on her leg, and a broken arm,. They stitched her up as best they could, as she lay on the bed, unconscious. In her condition, she would not pilot her MA for some time. There in the bed she rested, unaware of the battle outside. For the time she rested, she was at peace.

Chairman Tamaru sat in his office. He flipped through some papers that he needed to fill out and took a pen from his desk. He began to read the papers and sign in some areas. He glanced outside for a moment before returning his focus to the documents in front of him. The door opened as one of CETA's generals entered. He stepped in through the door and saluted. "Permission to enter?" he asked at attention.

"Yes," the chairman replied. "Please come in." He waited for the general to come in. "You may sit." The general did so in a nearby chair. He turned it to face the chairman. "What do you bring with you?"

The general straightened. "I have brought news of the battle outside," he said with a saddened tone. He handed the Chairman a small disk, which he popped into the player on his desk. He brought up a small screen, on it read the words 'Voice Only' and a line or motion showing the sound.

"This is Captain Talmir of the Apollo Class warship, Viper. The Enemy is too great. Our forces have depleted and our ships have sustained a large amount of damage." The voice was worried and in panic, as if to finish this message before the enemy destroyed them. "Worst of all they sent in a probe and stole valuable information of the secret projects of CETA." The chairman and general gasped at this news. What info the Hulgar took became unknown as the transmission cut out after that. The chairman cursed and slammed his hands on the desk.

Alex flew back to the Legitimate and saw the damage it had received. "Captain Hamatari? Is everything ok?" He transformed back into his normal form and used the multi-targeting to block more missiles.

"Yes," the Captain replied. "Come back for a quick resupply Lunar. You're too low on power."

Alex looked down at the power metre. _'Damn,'_ he thought. _'She's right.'_ He turned the Lunar around and began to re-enter. "Ok I'm coming in." He landed inside the launch gate as it shut behind him, moved to the resupply station and shut off his Gundam. He opened the cockpit and went over to the videophone on the wall of the hangar. He called up to the bridge, hoping to receive some information. "So how's the damage?"

The Captain forwarded the call to Kinoru. "We've lost two of our seven missile tubes and one of our Valiants. Besides that the only damage is some fires inside but those are all under control." She quickly turned as she got news from the Warp. "We have just learned that the one of the two enemy ships has now fallen."

Alex nodded and ended the call with a salute. He returned to the Lunar and launched as soon as the resupplying was finished. He joined the Warp, now visible and using the sniper, and the Eclipse, still shooting at random areas of the ship, disrupting the computer systems. Those two were in no need to resupply for they both had more than half of their power.

They were glad to see the Lunar return, but their moods soon changed as the enemy ship seemed to get a new boost of power. Yumi looked at her display and saw a large Nuclear power activate. "What's going on?" she asked. Her screen began to darken and blur as the power source began to disrupt the computers. "N Jammers?"

The captain came over the radio. "Did anyone activate their Nuclear Cores?" Her voice was mad at first, for she had not given permission for the pilots to use the Nuclear Cores, but changed to fear as Andarian, Alex, and Yumi all denied the NC activation. Then she watched as the ship set out a powerful barrage. The Warp got away quickly and the Lunar backed out, using his shields. The Eclipse, however, had some difficulty. It used the one shield it had but it did not have the defence of the Lunar or the speed of the Warp. The Eclipse did get away though as the Enemy ship turned and began to flee. The Legitimate sent out signal flares, bringing in the Gundams.

Alex did not want to return. "I just got back out," he complained but Captain Hamatari just stated, "Only the Warp has the speed to keep up with a warship. The Lunar would fall behind for sure." Alex had to agree, so he re-entered.

The Commander looked up from his screen. "Go to condition yellow until we are sure the ship is far away and still going." The Captain turned to him and asked for his thoughts. "There's no reason to pursue that ship. Besides, if it's using nuclear technology we are no match for it, even if the Shadow Gundams have NC activation clearance." The Captain agreed and sat in her chair again.

Andarian and the other pilots remained with their Gundams, filling out some sheets based on the performance of their machines. They filled out information like stat confirmation, OS functionality, and other stuff like that.

The captain was about to leave for a quick refresher when a message came to her from the Plants. It was Chairman Tamaru. Hamatari and Kinoru saluted, but the others were still busying away with repairs and monitoring the Hulgar ship. "How goes the battle?" he asked.

"The battle has ended," replied Kiariel. "We destroyed one of the ships and the other got away with serious– "

"The other ship got away?" he nearly screamed, cutting of the captain. He filled her in on the fact that one of those ships sent in a probe that stole valuable information. The entire crew gasped and for a brief moment, turned to see the Chairman before returning to their work.

Kinoru quickly gave new orders. "Stay at Condition Yellow for now until we get closer to the ship. Full speed, course; Green Charlie. Once they are within one hundred kilometres of our range, change to Condition Red." The Chairman wished them the best of luck before signing off.

Andarian locked his Gundam and went to his room. He opened the door to find his stuff, clothes and books, already in his room. He set the papers he was carrying in the desk, taking a brief moment to look at the computer, and then headed off to the male shower room.

In the shower room was Alex, already stripped and under the warm water. "Hey, we did good today, eh Andarian?" Alex rubbed some soap on his body and peered out of the shower.

Andarian looked at himself in the mirror and removed his shirt. "Yeah I guess." He moved to the cupboards and retrieved some shampoo and soap for himself, then removed the belt of his uniform and lowered his pants and boxers. He placed them next to Alex's stuff on the bench near the far side of the room.

Alex returned to his shower. "Well think about it. We defeated a warship and twenty MA's with a warship and three Gundams when," he hesitated, "and I mean this in the best way possible, but two of our warships, three MS's and a MA weren't able to do much damage to the small force." Alex's voice faded out near the end to a small whisper.

"You must remember," Andarian replied, stepping into the shower, "that they were caught by surprise." He turned the quiet shower on and turned the tap to the desired temperature.

Alex turned and looked over the small wall. "Hey, I heard that MA pilot is as young as us, and a female too." Andarian turned. "Well somewhere amongst our ages." Andarian laughed a little at that comment. He was the oldest of the pilots. Yumi was a year younger than Andarian and Alex a year younger than she was. No one knew the age of Amaru for he was quiet and kept to himself, but he seemed close to Alex's age.

Andarian rinsed his hair then applied the shampoo. Alex turned off his shower then reached for a towel and began drying off. "Hey, you wanna go see that girl?" Alex asked, rubbing the towel on his head, drying his hair.

Andarian rinsed his hair again then applied soap to his body. "Sure why not. She could use the company." Alex nodded and started to dress. He combed his hair and replaced his soaps in the cupboard.

"Well I'm gonna get some food before I go visit her," Alex decided before leaving with his things, leaving Andarian by himself. He moved down the hall and stopped by his room. He sat down at his desk and looked at the papers he received from the Chairman. He flipped through his sheets he filled out earlier and came to the last page of the manual. There was a sentence that read _'Along with the EOC (Energy Output Control) Box, every Shadow Gundam has the new-'_ and it cut off there.

Alex shook it off after taking a moment to see if he had forgotten any pages and stored them in his desk before heading to the cafeteria. It was quite the walk to get there. It was closer to the hangar level but near the middle of the ship, and the ship was quite big. When he arrived, he saw Yumi already there, eating away at today's meal. Spaghetti and sausages; its was an odd food choice to eat but still very tasty. Alex sat beside Yumi after he grabbed a plate for himself. "How goes it?" he asked.

Yumi turned to him and smiled. She took a sip from her water before speaking. "Did they make those Gundam's especially for us?" she asked him, turning away.

"What do you mean?" Alex looked at his food and took a small mouthful. "They were made from the most recent technology and we happened to be the best of our class." Alex turned to Yumi again.

Her brown hair had covered her face as she looked down. "The Warp," she started hesitantly. "It's made for someone who likes to hide, who likes to flee." She turned to Alex, eyes watering. "Have I always been a coward?"

Alex placed his hand under her chin, raised her head and looked at her. Their eyes met and for a moment, something stirred within the two of them. After a short pause, Alex spoke again. "You were very brave today," he said in a tone not normal for him. A faint smile came to Yumi's face as she fixed her hair and wiped her eyes.

Andarian looked up at the steamy ceiling. Images of the battle flashed in his mind as he rinsed his body. He shut off the shower and began to dry. _'Why are we fighting?'_ he asked himself. _'Why can't we get along with the Hulgar?'_ He looked at himself in the mirror again. _'Are we that different than they are?'_ He dried his body and dressed in his uniform again.

Andarian decided that he was not yet ready to go visit the girl so he went back to his room and sat on his bed. A small picture hanging on the wall caught his eye. He went over to it and removed it from the wall. He returned to his bed and scanned the picture.

It was from many years ago when Andarian was thirteen. The first time he was on Earth was when the picture was taken. In the picture was his father before he became the chairman of CETA, his mother and younger sister.

His sister was two years younger than him but had, at the time of the picture, surpassed him in height. She was very beautiful with sky blue hair and sapphire eyes. In many ways she resembled her older brother.

Andarian fell to his knees, eyes locked on the picture. _'Now I remember why I am fighting,'_ he thought. The sunset background seemed to cast a beautiful tint of orange onto his mothers face. _'I'm fighting to avenge you mother.'_ He looked down at his brother. His playful and content face brought a small smile to Andarian's face. _'I'm also fighting to rescue you sister.'_ He held the picture close to his chest and lowered his head, allowing tears to flow from his eyes and onto his leg.

* * *

_Tension builds between the pilots as the pursuit of the Hulgar ship continues. Supplies run low and the Legitimate is forced to make a brief stop. The Enemy gets away and the young team is faced with a new threat. Next time on Gundam Seed Abyss, Torn Hearts. Warp! Speed into battle and grasp your victory!_


	4. Phase 3: Torn Hearts

**_Phase 3 – Torn Hearts_**

After the meeting, Amaru headed back to his home close to the Military Complex. He entered his house and the warm air carried the scent of seasoned chicken to him. He followed the scent back to the kitchen, where he found his mother, a Natural. "Hello Amaru," she said sweetly, pulling him in for a hug. "What did Chairman Tamaru want today?"

Amaru brushed his blonde hair from his hazel eyes went to the dishwasher and began to empty the clean dishes from it. He peered out the window to see the sky a bright orange. It was growing late and dinner was almost ready. "I received my own Gundam," he replied with excitement in his voice. "It's not yet completed, but they said it will be soon." Amaru moved to the cupboards opposite of the dishwasher and placed some plates in it.

Amaru's mom went to the sink, began filling a pot with hot water, and placed it on the element of the stove. She turned to Amaru. "What about the other pilots?"

"They went to the Legitimate after the meeting. They've already gone." Amaru looked down, slightly depressed that he did not get to know them before they left. "They say it will be done in a week." Amaru went to his room and changed into his street clothes.

He returned to help his mom with finishing dinner. He set the table and helped finish cooking. The room had a nice feel to it, like the spring after a long winter. Amaru's father walked in a moment later dressed in a suit and tie and carrying a briefcase. He was not in the military for he too, like his wife, was a Natural. This made Amaru a First Generation Coordinator. Amaru sat down as his mother brought out the food. His father went into his office, removed his coat, and placed it on his chair; his briefcase went under the desk.

Afterwards, he joined Amaru and his mother at the table. The chicken was cooked to a golden brown and there was corn boiled and buttered. They sat down to eat and exchanged pleasantries. During dinner they talked about work and the meeting with the Chairman and the new Gundams.

After dinner was over and the dishes were cleared, Amaru returned to his room, sat on his bed and opened a study book on how to program the OS of a MS or Gundam. He read for several hours before falling asleep. Amaru was the only member of the Shadow Team, although his Gundam was not yet ready, that had not graduated from the Military Academy yet. In his sleep, he dreamt of his friends, his teammates, worrying about their fate.

Andarian replaced the picture on his wall and wiped his face. He adjusted his short collar and left for the Infirmary which was located bridge but still several decks away. When he walked in , the smell of medicine washing over him. He asked one of the nursing staff to see the girl and was directed to her.

He saw as he was led to her that she was sad and also seemed alone. Her bed was in one of the far corners of the room. Andarian wondered if she was placed there on purpose or if she requested to be placed there. Either way, it did not make sense to him.

The nurse touched her leg slightly to indicate that she had a visitor. She was awake and turned her head. Her eyes stared at his and a cold chill ran down his back. "Andarian…?" she asked weakly.

Andarian recoiled slightly as she whispered his name. "Yes it's me," he replied quietly. "How do you know my name?"

She sat up in bed and turned to him. She wore a white hospital jumpsuit that bore the CETA crest. "You look like your father…" she spoke again in a whisper. She looked up at the ceiling. "How do I look?" she asked randomly. Andarian blushed at the question. She saw this and let out a quiet laugh. "Not like that. I meant with my injuries."

Andarian looked at her forehead, bandaged, then down her neck, also bandaged and her arm, which had a cast on it. "You got banged up quiet a bit." He looked at her charts, not really understanding a lot of it but getting the just of it. "I've seen worse, but this is going to take some time to heal."

The girl silently agreed. She offered her good hand. "I'm Jena, Mobile Armour pilot for the CETA Alliance. My Mobile Armour is the CPMA.- 4V9 Centaur."

Andarian took Jena's hand and shook it lightly. "Andarian Tamaru, son of Chairman Tamaru, Mobile Suit Pilot, also of CETA. My Gundam is the CPSG.-240 Eclipse." They both smiled.

Captain Hamatari looked out the window. The vast distance between them and the ship had closed over the last few hours. The Orange Condition was still in effect, meaning they were in pursuit and all hands were to be ready for battle at any moment.

Commander Kinoru talked to Hamatari quietly for a moment. "We may be close to catching them," he started, "but what are we going to do for supplies? We are already very low."

"I know," she replied, "but at this rate it will still be another few hours until we can catch them, maybe even a day." She looked out at the ship, then at the computer. "I don't necessarily call that close.

One of the navigation crewmen was at his station and checking the thermal scans. "The Thermal Pattern lock is still holding," he reported. "However, if they take on any more distance from us, we'll lose them."

After Yumi left he cleared the dishes and noticed the one plate still there. He called to the cook. "Who's this for?"

The cook, a large man with no hair on his head but a short black beard, turned and looked at the plate. "It's for that girl in the Infirmary, but no one has taken it or come to get it."

Alex took it and said to the cook that he was going to take care of it. He walked away and down to the Infirmary. He went in and saw Andarian there. He was sitting on a stool beside the girl. Andarian called Alex over. "Hey. It's about time you got here." Alex approached and stopped in his tracks.

He looked at the girl and Jena sat up in her bed, pulling the zipper up a bit. They locked eyes and the room went silent. Finally, after a long period, Alex stuttered her name. "J-Jena?"

Andarian took the plate from Alex for fear of him dropping it. He tried to break the silence. "So you two know each other?"

Jena continued to look at Alex. "Yeah we do," she said without breaking the stare. "He's my boyfriend."

The crew continued about their jobs. In a short time, Yumi entered. She looked around the bridge and, when she spotted her cousin, went over and greeted her. Jessie looked a lot like her, but much older, and longer hair. "Hey, how you doing?" Jessie asked.

Yumi looked at her screen and saw her report. "Well I don't seem to have as much paperwork as you do."

Jessie looked at her screen and continued typing. "So do you like your room?" she asked as she worked

Yumi bent down. "Yes I do. But why are there some of your things in there?"

Jessie laughed and looked at Yumi again. "We share the same room. Didn't you notice the bunks?"

Yumi thought about this and made sense of it. "I guess some of us don't get out own rooms." She looked at the time, noticing how late it was and feeling sleep come over her. "Wow," she said after a pause. "With all the excitement I didn't feel how tired I was until now."

Jessie looked back at the Captain as she returned to her seat. "Go to Condition Green, we need to make a stop. We are going to stop off at the ZAFT Outpost Kronos. We need supplies and that's the closest place we can go." The others nodded. "Follow your normal shifts. The others may take this time to rest."

Jessie announced Condition Green so all hands could resume their normal duties, then turned to the Captain. "May I take my leave now?" When the Captain nodded, Jessie took out the earpiece and rose from the chair, using it to keep her from floating away. She looked at Josh and said "I've forwarded communication controls to you." Josh nodded and returned to his work. Jessie turned to her younger cousin again. "Come," she said. "Let's go get some rest." She pushed away from the chair and made her way to the lift.

Yumi followed her, saluting to the Captain and Commander as she passed. She made one last glance back, noticing that Thrice, Crash, and Ray had all left. _'Guess it's not their shift,_' She thought as she used the wall to enter the lift. The two girls descended into the gravitated halls and walked to their room.

Jessie went to the desk and began to scan-read the papers. She noticed that, like Alex's, there was a page missing. "Did you know there's a page missing from the data sheets?"

Yumi looked at the sheet. "No I haven't gotten that far yet. I'm still on Charge Settings." She took the sheets, hesitated, and then placed them on the desk, deciding not to do any reading tonight. She looked over to the other bed to see her sister pull the skirt away from her body, revealing her pink underwear, followed by her unzipping her shirt, her black bra showing, and then sit on the bed.

Jessie took a small book from under her bed placed it on her pillow. She threw her body back and sat up against the wall. She removed the shirt, took the book and lay down in bed. Yumi also stripped to her green bra and panties and got under the covers. "Jessie?"

"Yes?" she answered. "What is it?" She marked her page and turned to Yumi.

"Do you think I'm weak?" she too turned to face her sister.

"What do you mean by weak?" Jessie asked, growing concerned. She got out of bed and went to Yumi's side.

Andarian stood there in awe. Alex took a step forward and took Andarian's place on the stool. "You were the one piloting that MA?" he asked although he knew the answer.

"Yes…" she said weakly, "…that was me." She turned away and looked at the food, which she began to eat.

Alex just stood there, dazed and surprised. He had not seen Jena in years, yet there she was sitting in a hospital bed eating away, fairly banged up. He could not help but feel some pity for his girlfriend.

Jena looked up at Andarian and Alex. "I'm fine, ok?" She continued to eat.

Alex turned to Andarian and whispered to him, "Can you give is some time?"

Andarian nodded and without a word, he left the infirmary. He went to his room and continued looking through the pages of the booklet. He noticed at the last page that there was another page missing. He shrugged it off and looked at the time. It was late so Andarian striped to his boxers and climbed into bed. He entered a troubled sleep with memories of his mother and sister.

Alex took Jena's hand and spoke with passion. "It's been some time hasn't it?"

Jena blushed slightly and took hold of his hand. "Yeah, nearly three years if I remember." She rested her head on the pillow again, still holding Alex's hand. "You've stayed true to me then?"

Alex gripped her hand a bit tighter. "Of coarse Jena," he said awkward, like he could not believe she asked such a question. "After your ship got lost after battle I waited for you to return. Not a day went by that I didn't think of you." He sat on the bed with her and threw himself into her chest. "Not a day went by that I didn't worry about you."

Jena smiled. "Oh Alex, I've missed you too." She brought his head up and kissed him, their warm lips meeting. Alex returned the kiss and parted shortly after. "You'd better get some rest," she said, seeing his exhaustion. "I need the rest too." She gave him one last kiss before sending him off and falling asleep shortly after that.

Alex used the walls to move through the gravity-free halls to his room. He threw himself on his bed and took off his shirt. He fell asleep in his uniform pants. He had found the one he had been looking for. Nothing could ruin his mood.

Andarian was awakened at around three o'clock in the morning by Kanora. When Andarian asked why he needed to get up, he just answered, "They need you outside."

Andarian got dressed quickly and went to the hangar. He got his suit on and activated the Eclipse. He called the bridge. "What's the mission?"

Ray came onscreen and answered. "They need you outside for some minor repairs before we can continue our course."

Andarian typed in the password and activated the systems. "What about the enemy ship?" Andarian questioned.

"They've…" Despite Ray's hesitation, Andarian got the idea.

"I see… So they got away…" Andarian let out a sigh and moved to the launch pad. It lowered as the gate opened. "Andarian Tamaru, Eclipse… Let's Ride!" The catapult lurched forward and the equipment was attached. At the end of the gate, the Eclipse lifted and launched into space.

Before, while still in the Plants and during the battle, Andarian had not gotten a good look at the warship that he was a part of. Now he got a clear look at it. The ship was very long and had two big square-looking guns on either side, which were the Valiants. Along both sides there were four missile tube blocks each, with two more on the front and another two on the back. The bridge could be seen near the top of the ship and near the front. It rounded in with the rest of the ship so it was less of a target. The ship was mainly black and blue, just like the Gundams. It made sense for the Legitimate was made to carry the Shadow Gundams.

Andarian activated the VPS Armour and flew around to where work probes were fixing one of the engines. Andarian helped hold the pieces in place and brought out the pieces from the ship. They soon fixed the engine and were on their way.

Andarian returned and worked on the OS of the Gundam. He did not go back to sleep and worked from five to eight. He also scanned the computer for all installed components. He learned the use of the EOC Box, which was to control what systems used up the most energy. However, despite his long search, he did not find anything that was not in the manual. Andarian changed the password and locked the Gundam. He changed out of his space suit and back into his uniform and went to the cafeteria for breakfast.

Andarian saw Jessie there and when he saw what was being served he dashed to the counter. It was pancakes and bacon, Earth maple syrup and some sausages on the side. The cook looked at Andarian's happy face and said, in a discouraging tone, "Enjoy it for it's probably gonna be the last descent meal you'll have for a while." Andarian thanked him, although now slightly sad. He joined Jessie at the table.

"How'd the repairs go?" she asked him, cutting into her last sausage. She placed it in her mouth and set the fork and knife on the near empty plate.

"They went ok," he responded, also taking a bite of one of his sausages. "Just a small dent and some loose wires for the most part."

"So it didn't take very long." Jessie took her fork and ate the last piece of sausage. "When do you think we're going to get back home?"

Andarian nearly choked on his food. "What do you mean?"

Jessie frowned slightly. "I don't live at Central like you, Alex and Yumi do. I live at Uchuuno in the Second District."

"You haven't been home in a while have you?" Andarian asked, noting the fact that Jessie seemed lost and distant.

"No I haven't…" Jessie stood and returned her plate. When Andarian called out for her she said, "My shift is starting soon." Then she waved good bye to Andarian and made her way to the bridge.

Amaru was awakened by his father early that same morning. "Come Amaru, the Chairman wants you." He got up quickly and went to the videophone.

"Amaru here." He saluted. "I apologize for my attire."

The Chairman came up on the screen. "It's ok Amaru," he reassured him. "Do you have classes today?"

Amaru went to the table and looked at his class schedule. "No, I have no classes today or tomorrow."

The Chairman seemed pleased. "I will be at your house in half an hour. Please be ready by then."

Amaru saluted again as the call ended. Why the Chairman was coming here he did not know, but he dared not waste any time. He rushed to the shower and rinsed off, scrubbing himself down a bit and drying off quickly. He just finished getting dressed in his uniform when the chairman arrived. He hugged his mom, then disappeared through the front door.

Out on the road was a large black limo. The chauffeur opened the door and Amaru got in, saluting. He sat beside the Chairman and the chauffeur returned to the front seat. "To what do I owe the pleasure?" Amaru asked, doing up the seatbelt.

The Chairman turned to him. "We have a conference to go to," he answered, "with the leaders of the three other great nations."

Amaru went wide eyed. "You mean I get to meet the leaders of ZAFT, Orb, and the Atlantic Federation?"

Chairman Tamaru laughed a bit. "Yes. You'll get to meet President Cagalli Yula Athha of Orb, Chairman Athrun Zala of ZAFT, and Steven Shanner of the Atlantic Federation."

Amaru could hardly contain himself. They soon came to the centre of the Plant. They got out of the limo and took the elevator up to the middle of the Plant. The weightless area threw Amaru off a bit but he held on to the moving handrail. They went out to the hangar and boarded a ship that was Earthbound. It was not long before they took off.

Amaru and the Chairman found seats near the middle of the ship, which was surprisingly empty. "The purpose of this meeting," explained Tamaru, "is to prepare for future battles and hopefully plan the last one."

Amaru looked outside. He saw the occasional ships, MS's, and MA's pass by. "I hope we end this soon," he said mainly to himself. "It's been going on too long. I may not get my part in but I'd rather have no part and have it over sooner than to have it drag on and be a part of it."

Tamaru placed his hand on Amaru's shoulder. "Spoken like a true soldier." When Amaru placed a confused look on his face, he explained. "A true soldier may kill, but only a murderer would enjoy it. It will make more sense when you're older."

Alex entered the Infirmary to see Jena again. She was still asleep. The nurse came over to him. "She can go to a room now. She's healing very well and doesn't need to stay in here." Alex nodded and accepted a small bottle of pills. "She's to take two of these, once a day. It will help her heal faster."

Alex kissed her cheek and she awoke. "Is there a battle?" she asked, half asleep.

"No," he replied. "There's no battle. We are going to be arriving at Kronos in about half an hour." He took her hand and pulled her up. "Come now, you've got your own room."

Jena stood and walked slowly. Her body ached with each step down the hall. He brought her to the lift and took her to her room. She sat on the bed and looked at Alex. She was now more awake than before, but still very tired. She took off the white jumpsuit, exposing her white bra and pink underwear. She pulled up the straps of her bra and turned to Alex. "Could you do me a favour and go to the laundry room and pick up my clothes? They may still stained with a bit of blood. If they are, could you wash them?"

Alex nodded and kissed her on the cheek again, which she returned. Alex stood at the door and took the clothes. "Get some rest ok?" She nodded and her straps fell off again. Alex left the room and she fell onto her bed. She did not sleep, but just closed her eyes and rested.

Jessie looked at the computer screen. "Kronos has accepted our code and has granted us entry," she said to the captain.

The captain nodded as a ZAFT Major came on the screen. "Please use Port 'B' and we shall have to inspect your ship before we can allow anyone off or begin repairs and resupply."

"Understood," the captain replied simply. The navigation crew backed the ship into the port. They were now safe.

* * *

_They think they're safe, but the Hulgar ship returns with a great force and weapons that shock all. Andarian and the Shadow Team find themselves up against some of the greatest foes. Next time on Gundam Seed Abyss, Bullets of Disaster. Lunar! The power you possess can defeat your foes, so go forth!_


	5. Phase 4: Bullets of Disaster

**_Phase 4 – Bullets of Disaster_**

The Legitimate backed into Kronos, the ZAFT outpost. They were soon docked and held in. The place became very busy as ZAFT soldiers with semiautomatic guns quickly ran into the ship and began to search the ship. The General went straight to the bridge and greeted the crew. "Welcome to Kronos," he said openly. "We are just taking some precautions as you know."

As he spoke, the military units scouted the hangar, mess hall, and other areas of great importance. Yumi awoke with a start as she heard voiced outside the cabin.

Alex looked out to the hallway from the laundry room to see several guards run by. One of them stopped at the laundry room took out a slip of paper and called out to some other guards. "Here's one of them!" he called. Two other guards came in and pointed their guns at Alex. He was ordered to the ground.

Alex just stood there, preparing for a fight. "Why?"

Without getting an answer, one of the guards attacked him with a knife. Alex was barely able to pull aside, the blade cutting the skin of his cheek. Before anyone else could make a gesture, Alex ran towards the other two and tripped both of them. However, as soon as he got out the door, he was surrounded by more soldiers and taken down, landing hard on his elbow.

"What news," the General said, looking around the bridge, "can you give us on the recent happenings?" He walked closer to the Commander. "Perhaps you shall answer?"

Kinoru looked at Hamatari, who nodded to him. "We were in pursuit of a Hulgar war ship," Kinoru began. "We believe it stole important data concerning this warship, the Legitimate, and some of CETA's other important information."

The General stared straight into Kinoru's eyes. He could tell there was something being hidden. He went over to Hamatari and did the same thing. "Can you fill in a few more details?" he asked coldly. "Maybe about the info that was stolen?"

Hamatari gave the General a distasteful glare and replied with an equally cold voice, "That information is unknown, even to us. Even if we did know, that info would be classified to the CETA Alliance."

The General let out a laugh. "Have we forgotten the agreements that allow the CETA Alliance to exist?"

Hamatari continued her cold stare. "No we have not, but do not forget that ZAFT and CETA are only neutral. We do not share such information openly, least of all to a mere General."

The General, though very insulted, kept his cool and smiled. "As true as that is, we will still have the information we want."

Andarian finished his food and cleared his plate. He began walking down the hall when he ran into some ZAFT soldiers. "Are you Andarian?" one of them asked.

"Yes," he said hesitantly. Shortly after answering, he had guns pointed at him. He took a step back and was tackled to the ground.

"Stay still," the guard said, gun aimed at Andarian's head. Andarian relaxed his muscles and the guards lifted him onto his feet.

Yumi was laying on her bed when the door opened. Three guards came in and Yumi screamed. She lifted the covers to hide her panties. One of the guards, who was female, remained in the room as the other two went out. She got her to dress herself quickly

After she was dressed, though she looked sloppy, she was taken off the ship. There, already outside and surrounded by ZAFT soldiers were Andarian, with a small cut on his head, and Alex who had a bruise on his arm and a large cut on his cheek. When they were all together, the guards continued herding them into the outpost.

Up in the bridge, Jessie looked at her computer screen, which brought up an image of her cousin and her friends being taken away. Immediately she spoke up with great rage. "Why are our mobile suit pilots being taken away?"

Hamatari stared in shock and went to the window. Kinoru addressed the General. "Explain yourself. Do you intend to interrogate our pilots?"

"That is exactly it," he replied. "They have been operating illegal machines. Our sources state that the CPSG.-230 Warp, 240 Eclipse, 250 Lunar, and 260 Nightmare, have all been equipped with nuclear power cells, and the Alta System."

Andarian and the other pilots were forced to walk at a quick pace. Their hands were cuffed and behind their backs. Yumi dared to speak. "What do they want with us?" She looked at Andarian and Alex, although both avoided her gaze and remained silent.

As they made their way down the hallway, Alex turned suddenly as Yumi stumbled and fell to the ground. He saw her get hit on the back by the gun as punishment. Filled with rage, he broke free and charged. "Get away from her!" Alex screamed. He rammed into one of the guards and another hit him in the head, sending him to the ground.

"Alex don't!" Andarian cried too late. He got pushed back as the others were brought to their feet. It was not long before they were on their way once more, Yumi and Alex staggering slightly.

They soon came to a heavy concrete hallway that contained what were obviously interrogation rooms and found themselves being roughly taken to separate rooms. Andarian was handcuffed to a chair in a bare room that contained only a small table and one other chair for furnishings, and a one-way glass where he knew he was being watched.

The Chairman led Amaru off the ship and to another limo that was waiting for them outside the station as Amaru took a deep breath in, enjoying the real air of the atmosphere. "This is the first time you've been on Earth isn't it?"

Amaru looked around at the clouds and the birds flying around. "Yes it is," he replied. "It's a sad thing that CETA's Plants don't have all this yet. I heard that the ZAFT Plants have all this, but I've never been there either."

The Chairman got into the car and Amaru sat beside him. They drove along the highway, Amaru taking in the scenery. It wasn't long until they arrived at a large building that reached high into the sky; forty stories at least.

Amaru and the Chairman entered and there were a few CETA military units that joined them. They made their way to the elevator and went to the thirty-eighth floor. There they entered a long hallway and walked to the fifth door on the right.

Inside was a large conference room. On the far wall there was a screen that could be seen by everyone at the long table, which could seat thirty. However, there were only four others there. Athrun of ZAFT sat at the first on the left, Cagalli of Orb beside him. On the other side, facing Athrun and Cagalli was Steven of the Atlantic Federation and one of his military officials.

Athrun greeted the Chairman and Amaru. They sat themselves beside the Atlantic Federation members. Another ZAFT soldier entered a moment later and stood behind Athrun. "Now we can begin," said Athrun.

Steven handed each of them a slip of paper with the agenda of the meeting printed on it and listed them off as Amaru glanced at the Chairman's sheet. The first item on the list was economics.

Andarian waited. The room was silent. No clock ticked nor wind whistled. It was not long, although in the silence it seemed a long time, before a man dressed in a black suit entered. He had brown hair that was slightly spiked. He sat down and looked directly into Andarian's eyes. He spoke slowly and with an intimidating voice. "What is your name?"

Andarian thought this was pointless, for he was sure the man knew who he was, but he answered anyway. "Andarian Tamaru."

"And what," the man continued, "is your position in the military?"

Andarian "I am a Mobile Suit pilot, first class, for the CETA Alliance," he answered.

The man got up and began to walk behind Andarian. "You are the Chairman's son?"

"That is correct." Andarian looked straight ahead, as if the man was still in his chair. When there was a long silence, Andarian began asking his own questions. "Why have you taken us? What has the CETA Alliance done to Zaft?"

The man took a bottle of water and poured it into two cups. He offered one to Andarian. When it was not accepted he assured him that it was not drugged. Andarian then accepted. The man released him from one of the cuffs and handed the glass to him. He took a small sip and set it on the table.

The man sat in the chair again. "So, what Gundam do you pilot?"

"Why do you think I pilot a Gundam?" Andarian shifted slightly, trying to rattle the guy's nerves.

"Because there are only three Gundams in your ship's hangar, and the one MA." It was clear this man knew the differences between a Gundam and a Mobile Suit.

Andarian could not hide this. "Yes, I pilot the CPSG.-240. It is known as the Eclipse."

The man nodded. "Did you know the Eclipse, as well as the other Gundams, use nuclear power?"

"Yes I did." Andarian took another sip of his water. "But it also has a regular power cell. The nuclear cell is only used– "

"But it still has it," the man interrupted. He circled him again. "Did you also know that the Alta system is an illegal project that was not supposed to be finished?"

Andarian turned to the man. "The Alta system?"

The man met his gaze and stood over his shoulder. "Yes the Alta system." He came in close to make him nervous. "You know of it?"

"No," Andarian replied. "I don't know about the Alta system." The man sat down again. "What does it do?"

Jena looked out of her room. Down on either side of the hallway there were several guards on standby. Why ZAFT had boarded she did not understand. She went to the laundry room, dressed in street clothes, to see if she could find Alex. She could not sleep with all that was going on. When she got there, she saw her clothes scattered everywhere and traces of blood on the floor that was not her own. She went as quickly as she could to Alex's room and didn't find him there either. Then she went to Andarian's room and found him missing as well.

When she exited, she saw Jessie walking down the hall, crying slightly. Jessie saw Jena come out of the room and went up to her. "You won't find any of the pilots here," she said, choking on her words slightly. "They were all arrested by ZAFT."

Jena's face went from worried to shocked. She leaned up against the wall and sunk to the floor. "Why did they get arrested?"

Jessie explained that the Gundams had a weapon installed that was illegal, the Alta system. When it was installed, it was believed to be a useful system, but soon became a weapon that hurt the users, therefore, it was banned.

"What does the Alta System do?" Andarian asked, looking at the man. It was then that Andarian realized that the missing page could have been the page explaining the Alta System.

"As the pilot of the Eclipse, I thought you could tell me." He finished the water in his cup.

"I never even knew that such a system was around." Andarian followed the man around the room with his eyes.

"I see…" The man left the room. Andarian could make out another door opening up and closing. He figured the man went into the room behind the glass, for he could still feel his gaze on his back.

The ZAFT General walked down with the Captain and Commander to the hangar. There, many ZAFT scientists were examining the Eclipse, Lunar and Warp. A couple had even managed to get into the cockpits and were trying to hack into the OS, but because Andarian and the others had changed the passwords, they were unable to get access.

"I take it you cannot get access to the Gundams can you?" Kinoru asked with a hint of satisfaction.

"We will eventually." The General walked up to the Eclipse and rubbed the side of the metal foot. He looked up. "Such an impressive machine," he said in a low tone.

"So," Jena started, taking a sip of her hot chocolate. She and Jessie had gone to the cafeteria. Resupplying had not yet started because of the incident with the Gundams. Once both sides came to an agreement to resolve the situation, then the resupplying would begin., but the chance of them leaving right away were slim; they were not going to leave without their pilots. "What is this Alta System?" she asked at a length.

"Not much," Jessie replied, "is known about the Alta System, not even the scientists fully understand it. It stands for Automatic Learning Transfer Apparatus." Jessie looked at the rim of her cup and took a sip from it.

It was not long before the man returned. "So," he began, taking his seat again. "You have no clue what the Alta System is?"

"That is right," Andarian replied.

"What it does is link the minds of the users together," the man explained, "but the test process showed it to create a large amount of strain on the user's minds. That is why it was banned."

Andarian was shocked at the news. Such a weapon would give a huge advantage. His thought was cut short as a tremor shook the entire station. The man quickly dashed out of the room, leaving Andarian alone again.

The ZAFT General, still aboard the Legitimate, quickly left the warship. He made his way to the main elevator, used a card key, and went up to the top floor of the main command centre where he found many people stationed at computer terminals for weapons, navigation and other systems of the base.

"What's going on?" the General demanded after getting off the elevator.

"We have a large Hulgar fleet heading toward Earth," one of the female soldiers replied.

Before the General could respond, a male voice spoke up. "Two ships have pulled out of the main fleet. They have begun an attack on Kronos. Enemy power, ten mobile armour, more launching, three mobile suits, and the two warships."

The General stared in horror as he looked at the main screen, showing the large force going towards Earth. "What is the strength of the Hulgar fleet?"

"Unknown," replied the man.

"Alert all other allied forces of the Hulgar fleet. As for us, get the small force on screen," the General commanded. The screen changed to show the small force approaching. The General's face sank deeper into horror as he saw the mobile suits. They looked exactly like the Eclipse, Lunar, and Warp.

Down in the interrogation rooms, Andarian waited. He had no idea what was going on, but it was not long until ZAFT soldiers came in and unlocked the cuffs. "You are to help defend this base," the soldier commanded.

Andarian nodded and left, joining up with Yumi and Alex just outside in the hallway. They ran out to the Legitimate and went straight to the hangar after reporting in to the bridge. "Good to have you back," the Captain said.

The Legitimate launched into space shortly after, followed by some ZAFT warships. Andarian and the others quickly changed into their pilot suits and activated the OS's, running a quick scan to make sure there was nothing changed. Andarian moved to the launch gate. It lowered and opened. "Andarian Tamaru, Eclipse… Let's ride!" The catapult began to move quickly and the Eclipse's weapons attached on. With that, the Eclipse launched into space. Andarian immediately activated the VPS Armour and sped off towards the enemy.

Next to go was Alex. The Lunar moved to the launch gate as it rose. He got on and it lowered again. "Alex Ratsu, Lunar. Here we go!" Again the catapult sped forward and the Lunar's equipment was attached. Once out, the Lunar transformed to Mobile Armour mode and activated the VPS Armour.

Last was Yumi. "Yumi Shira. Warp. I'm heading out." Yumi launched out, activated her Mirage Colloid, and followed the other pilots. It was not long until they found the enemy. They were on the other side of Kronos and had already done a large amount of damage. "This is not good," Yumi said to herself.

Andarian was the first to confront the enemy. He unleashed the DRAGOONS upon a small group of MA's, but only managed to destroy one. Andarian looked off to either side and began to go after another group of MA's when a large beam shot past him. He narrowly dodged the shot and when he looked at the computer screens to see where the shot had come from, he saw them flicker slightly. '_An EMP Beam?'_ he thought to himself. He turned to the holder of the gun and retracted the DRAGOONS. There in front of him, was the Eclipse.

Yumi sped into a group of MA's, taking her sword to one of them, but on the other side, she saw the Eclipse. She went to it but stopped when she noticed there were two of them. She didn't get enough time to take in what she saw when the Lunar sped by in MA mode, shooting at Yumi. "Alex!" she yelled. "What the hell are you doing?"

"That's what I'd like to ask you!" he exclaimed back. "Why are you attacking me?"

"You're the one who is attacking me!" Yumi shouted back. She flew off to shake the Lunar, but it followed her closely, despite the Warp's speed. She soon saw another battle. There, she saw another Lunar Gundam and what appeared to be the Warp. "What the hell?"

Alex turned to see Yumi and the enemy Lunar that was attacking her. He also saw the two Eclipse's battling each other. "So this Warp isn't you Yumi?"

"How can it be when I'm right here?" Yumi joined Alex and they defended themselves from the other two Gundams.

Jessie ran up to the bridge and Jena followed. She was allowed in and sat in one of the spare chairs while Jessie went to her station. She and Jena were relieved to know that the pilots had returned and were okay. As soon as they were clear of Kronos, Jessie got the pilots to launch and told them to attack the mobile weapons force while they focused their attacks on the warships.

"Load all missile tubes with Anti-beam Depth Charges!" ordered Kinoru. "Fire Barrage Cannons, and prepare to fire missiles."

Jessie looked at the screen and heard Yumi and Alex argue. Andarian called in a moment later. "The enemy has created technorganic versions of our Gundams. They appear to be living things."

The Captain went over to Jessie's station. "So we know they got that data, but we may still have one advantage." She opened a communication link to all the pilots. "Activate Nuclear Cores."

Andarian, Alex, and Yumi stared for a moment, then pressed the button to activate the Nuclear Cores. There was a whir and the power ratings on everything skyrocketed. The VPS Armour also changed. The blue parts changed to red and the black parts also gained a small tint of red.

Andarian ran a system scan to make sure all was working. "Andarian Tamaru, CPSG.-240 X Prominence transformation complete."

Yumi also check her Gundam. "Yumi Shira, CPSG.-230 X Fusion powered and ready."

Alex changed a few settings to compensate for the Gundam's change in power, then confirmed in with the others. "Alex Ratsu, CPSG.-250 X Solar returning to battle."

Yumi sped towards the Hulgar Warp and drove her sword through it, cutting it in half. However, the two parts pulled themselves back together. "They're regenerating!" Yumi exclaimed.

* * *

_The battle turns for the worst and the Legitimate is forced to retreat. Amaru learns secrets from those of greater power. Things start to get out of hand as the war escalates to a new level. Next time on Gundam Seed Abyss, Supreme Conquest. Nightmare, use your weapons and support your friends!_


	6. Phase 5: Supreme Conquest

**_Phase 5 – Supreme Conquest_**

Amaru sat in the conference room and listened in on the conversations. "With our forces quickly depleting," began Steven of the Earth Forces, "can the Plants be prepared to host a great number of refugees?"

The room was dimly lit and a screen had been set up, although at the moment all it showed was the Earth Alliance logo. Behind Amaru, a table that had been dropped down from the wall had been set with food and beverages. He figured he would be here for a while. Again his mind wandered to Andarian, Yumi, and Alex. He checked his watch and rejoined the conversation.

Athrun looked at Cagalli then answered Steven's question. "I have ordered the construction of several new sectors and additions to older ones. However, they will not be ready for several months, and even then there will be a lot to do afterwards."

Amaru looked over at the Chairman then spoke up. "I'm sure CETA could find some space for some of them." The Chairman looked over at Amaru with slight surprise. "Even the Central District has some room, and that's the most heavily populated."

The Chairman took over from there. "It is true that we have some spare room for some refugees," he looked around the table, "but we do not yet have a strong enough economy to support a larger population."

Cagalli stood and went to get a glass of water. As she did so, she stated, "Orb, and I'm sure the other Earth countries, have all suffered from the Hulgar attack." She went on about the resource drop, the lack of lumber, grain, oil, and other raw materials.

"This brings us to the war…" Stephen said in a depressed tone. "We have word that CETA has completed the new Mobile weapons and a new warship. Is this correct?"

"Yes," answered Tamaru. "In fact this is Amaru Connors. He is the pilot of one of those new machines."

Amaru stood and gave a brief summary on the three complete Gundams. He started with the Warp, describing it's speed. Next was the Eclipse and it's new weapons. Third was the Lunar and it's power and transformation. After he was finished with those three, the Chairman handed Amaru a booklet like the ones the others got. Amaru read it aloud. It was the data for the Nightmare. "The CPSG.-260, or Nightmare is mainly a support Gundam to the other three Gundams. The Nightmare has no weaponry at all, save for a single beam sabre." Amaru flipped through the pages and read them at a fast speed that amazed the others. "Like the other Shadow Gundams, the Nightmare is equipped with two power cells, the Ultra Compact and the Nuclear Core, which is activated only with the approval of a superior officer." Amaru continued flipping through.

"The Nightmare has three transformations. When attaching to the Eclipse, both the backpack of the Nightmare and the DRAGOON System of the Eclipse come off. The backpack from the Nightmare goes where the DRAGOON was and the DRAGOON [backpack then attaches onto that. The backpack is both a rotation motor and a lift. The backpack comes up so the DRAGOONS are above the head and the DRAGOONS Guns bend forward. The motor begins to spin and the guns unleash a continuous beam, creating a tornado-like beam. The Eclipse then stands on top the Nightmare, which transforms into an aircraft MA." He waited as the screen displayed this.

"For the Lunar, the arms of the Nightmare come off and attach onto the shields when the Lunar is in MA mode. The arms become Plasma cannons similar to the ones on the Centaur. The rest of the Nightmare attaches onto a part of the top of the transformation that is left uncovered by the shields." Again, he waited for this to be displayed.

"For the Warp, the legs come off and the feet fold up, giving room for the two legs to attach together. This forms a large two handed cannon. The equipment weight slows the Warp, but the boost in power cancels that out. Like the Eclipse, the Warp stands on the transformed Nightmare." After the video was finished, the lights came up again slightly and everyone took a break for lunch.

"Load missile tubes with Sledgehammers. Target, enemy warships. Fire!" Kinoru shouted his orders.

"Incoming message from Kronos, text only," said Jessie. "They have sustained heavy damage and are preparing to sound the evacuation."

"Increase speed by twenty percent and take us to Orange Delta," commanded Kinoru.

"Incoming missiles, Red Alpha mark 20!" alerted Katrina.

"Evade!" shouted Hamatari. The ship turned to avoid the wave of missiles while the guns fired, destroying them.

"This is insane!" exclaimed Hamatari. "Where's the ZAFT forces?"

"They are fighting the MA force," said Ray, "and losing badly, I might add."

Andarian dodged a beam from the foe Eclipse and pulled around. There was a message on the screen. His main power was below fifty percent, and the core was draining quickly too. The Prominence attacked with it's rifle, blasting the left leg of the enemy. However, the leg regenerated quickly and it seemed to not have noticed. "This is bad," he said to the others.

Alex was having the same problem. The shields on the enemy Lunar were not able to reflect beams, but they still regenerated quickly. Even in MA mode and blasting consecutively with the machine gun, it still healed faster than the shots could damage it. "Legitimate!" Alex called. "What are we to do? We can't beat them if we can't do any damage to them!"

Jessie answered after receiving the orders from Kinoru. "Fall back to the ship and defend."

The Solar attempted to retreat, but was blocked by the foe, as were the Fusion and Prominence. "We can't get back!" Yumi shouted, taking a hit to her right arm. She looked to her left to see the enemy MA units destroying the ZAFT forces easily and taking out the base's defences. "We're getting killed out here!" She activated the Mirage Colloid and distanced herself from the main battle. She charged the sniper to full then shot at the enemy Warp. The beam passed right through and kept going, hitting the leg of the enemy Eclipse. However, they just healed again like nothing happened.

"Yumi," sighed Alex. "There's no point on fighting these things. We can't win."

The Prominence used it's chain to grab onto the enemy Eclipse. It was aimed at where the power cell would be normally, but nothing happened. The Eclipse just pulled it out and threw it back. "Well, I'm out of ideas," Andarian stated.

Jena sat there, taking in all that was going on. She watched as Andarian, Alex, and Yumi got pummelled. She stood and began to leave. "Where are you going?" asked Captain Hamatari.

Jena opened the lift doors and turned. "I'm going out there to help."

Hamatari approached Jena. "You are in no condition to pilot the Centaur."

Jena looked at the screen past the Captain. "I only need one arm to fly that thing," she said, close to tears. "As long as I can distract them long enough for them to break their attack, then they could retreat."

Hamatari nodded and let her go. Jessie turned and informed the pilots of the situation. "Shadow Team, the Centaur is coming out to assist with your retreat." Andarian and Alex began to worry. Was she ready to re-enter battle?

Amaru helped himself to a bagel and buttered it, then poured a glass of orange juice and returned to the table with them. The Chairman looked at Amaru and whispered in his ear, "That was impressive, the way you delivered that information." He sat in his chair and Amaru sat beside him.

They ate and exchanged more pleasant talk for a time. Cagalli and Athrun talked about their years in office and their experiences, the Chairman talked about the upcoming elections, and to Amaru's surprise, the group wanted to know about the academy he was attending. "It's a wonderful place," he began. "The place is very secure meaning that if you're not a member or special visitor, you can't get past the office. Both the interior and exterior are very nice." He continued on about his classes in mechanics and piloting, and about his room there until Athrun wished to continue with the meeting.

Andarian came around and blasted at the Eclipse needlessly. "Shadow Team go to formation Omega. We'll cover our bases until Jena gets out." The Prominence moved away from the Eclipse and called the Solar and the Fusion over to him. Once they were together, the Fusion got behind the Solar, in MS mode, all cannons faced forward, and Prominence, unleashing the DRAGOONS.

From this formation, Andarian and Alex blasted away and Yumi provided support from behind, blasting between them. This drained their power fast, but it would not be long until Jena was out.

Jessie's voice was sent through the hangar. "Jena Renomar, prepare for launch." Jena quickly got into her space uniform, being careful of her arm. She rushed out to see the Centaur ready for her. She got in and the hatch closed and the lift brought her to the catapult system. "Lowering launch gate. Catapult output levels normal. Linear launch system engaged. Course clear. Centaur, you are cleared to launch."

The gate lowered and opened revealing the emptiness of space, and the battle that took place there. "Jena Renomar, Centaur launching!" She thrust forward and launched into space, going towards Andarian and the rest of them.

Alex looked at his screen as a warning light came up. "I'm almost out of power!" he exclaimed.

"So am I," stated Andarian, also checking his screen.

"I'm low," Yumi started, "but I still have a fair amount-" She stopped her sentence and let out a loud scream. Her head began pounding with her heart beat. She gripped her head.

"Yumi!" cried Alex, but his attention was soon returned to his Gundam, as the Nuclear Core ran out, and the colour turned grey, losing it's VPS Armour. "Damn it!" He looked over at Andarian's machine as it too became grey. In the Fusion, Yumi went unconscious.

"Don't worry I'm here." Jena whipped past them, forcing the Hulgar to stop. She unleashed the Plasma guns and fired them. They hit the Eclipse, and to their surprise, it did not regenerate as quickly. Using this, she fired rapidly, giving the pilots a chance to escape. Andarian used his chain to take hold of the Fusion and bring it back.

Andarian fired a small EMP beam at the Fusion so it's Nuclear Core would deactivate. He towed her in and went to the holder in the hangar. The Warp was backed in and the Lunar and Centaur came in behind shortly after. Medical teams took Yumi to the hospital and helped Jena out of her MA. Andarian and Alex returned to space to finish off the rest of the MA's. The enemy MS's were nowhere to be seen. With the MS's weakness exposed, the Hulgar had begun to retreat. Andarian and Alex returned to the Legitimate. They had survived, but the battle was lost.

"So what is our next plan of action?" Steven asked. "We need to take the offensive and attack. We can't keep defending."

"I'm well aware of that," Athrun retorted, "but none of the forces are strong enough."

Cagalli slammed her fists onto the table. "Are we really this hopeless?" she asked, only to have heads tilted away or down. "Is this really the best we can do?" She met the gaze of Amaru who stood up.

"I agree," he said. "We can't keep running. We have almost nothing left. We must defend what we have."

Steven looked at Amaru and smiled. "I like your style kid." He waited for Cagalli to reseat herself before continuing. "We believe," he began, "that the Hulgar came from Neptune. It is the only planet that any nation has yet to explore."

Amaru piped in quickly. "What about Pluto?"

"It pulled away from the Earth's gravitation about three years ago," Athrun answered, "but we only discovered that recently. Besides, Pluto had no resources other than water and rock."

"Anyway," Steven continued, "with this information we could gather our full strength and attack. Even if we just do enough damage to slow their next attack, we could use that time to rebuild ourselves."

Amaru looked around at the other members, very confused. "How do we get to Neptune? That would take at least a year with the best of technology."

The Chairman laughed and looked at Amaru. "We have what are called Jump Gates set up throughout the system. We could go to any planet with one, instantly."

Cagalli filled in the details. "When the current space age began, around CE 75, Orb created the Jump Gates. They create a field of energy that can move us from one point to another safely, although it's not as 'instant' as it sounds. It does take a fair amount of time, but it's a lot faster than going without it."

"The trip," Steven continued, "would take about three weeks to a month for we don't have a gate at Neptune, but we can get to Uranus and continue from there."

Just as Steven finished, an Earth Alliance soldier came in asking all members of the meeting to go to the communications room quickly. They did so at a run and soon arrived. The room was fairly small, for it was not the main base, but still larger than the boardroom they were just in. "What's the problem?" asked Steven.

"It's ZAFT," replied the soldier that brought them there. Athrun's eyes widened and the soldier continued. "There were battles at Kronos and Mallith. Both have fallen."

Athrun ran to the soldier and lifted him by his collar. "What happened?"

Amaru got in between them and shoved Athrun back. "Let the man finish!" he shouted.

Athrun looked down. "I'm sorry, continue please."

The soldier adjusted his shirt and continued. "The Hulgar have sent a large fleet that appears to be coming from Neptune. A small group detached and attacked the stations."

The Chairman looked at Amaru grimly. "Mr. Chairman? What's wrong?"

He bent low and whispered to Amaru, "The Legitimate was last heading to Kronos before we came here." Amaru felt like falling to the floor, but kept his stance.

Everyone's expression dropped as the grim news was announced. There were at least a thousand people on Kronos alone. They began talking amongst themselves. "So ZAFT's EWS has failed…" Athrun muttered. "What is the strength of the fleet?" he asked, his voice swaying with anger and sorrow.

"Fifty at least, maybe more…" answered the soldier. Amaru dropped to his knees at the number. "They have come to invade Earth."

* * *

_The great fleet approaches and again anger mounts. Friendships are tested and memories brought back of the past. Memories that no one wants to remember. The nations begin to doubt themselves as the fleet draws near, but hope remains as long as there is the will to fight. Next time on Gundam Seed Abyss, Preparation for Doom. Legitimate, you have the Shadows, release their might._


End file.
